ICS boys b-ball drops back-to-back road games

Thursday

Dec 12, 2013 at 2:29 PM

ACTON — Playing its second road game in as many nights — and third in a five-day span — the Immanuel Christian boys basketball team simply ran out of gas on Tuesday night. The Crusaders lost to Vasquez 64-47 for a second straight defeat.

ACTON — Playing its second road game in as many nights — and third in a five-day span — the Immanuel Christian boys basketball team simply ran out of gas on Tuesday night. The Crusaders lost to Vasquez 64-47 for a second straight defeat."We were excited to play a much larger school — and opponent — to see how we measure up," Crusaders head coach Garry Noel said. "We showed a lot of hustle, fought until the buzzer and played aggressively."ICS (2-2) raced out to a 7-0 lead against its Division 5-AA counterparts. The Crusaders only trailed 29-28 at halftime, but wore down in the second half against a Vasquez squad that went 10 players deep.The Mustangs subbed two to three players at a time, and that rotation combined with their press eventually tired out ICS. The Crusaders had 33 turnovers in the loss, most of which came after halftime.Forward Paul Henderson filled up the stat sheet in defeat — he scored 15 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and blocked three shots. Guard Devin Thompson finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, and guard Michael Barker added 12 points.As a team, the Crusaders pulled down 40 rebounds and shot 3-for-5 from three-point range. Noel said ICS matched up well with Vasquez's starting five.On Monday night, ICS suffered its first defeat of the season in surprising fashion. The Crusaders fell 44-35 at Bethel Christian, a team they had beaten in a preseason scrimmage and again in the regular season."We came out flat and unresponsive, and never recovered," Noel said. "We really never got into a rhythm all night."Henderson, Thompson and forward Quamonte Traylor each scored nine points in the loss. Traylor had a team-high 15 rebounds and Henderson pulled down 11.Noel tried changing defenses between zone, press and man-to-man to change the flow of the game, but nothing could get ICS out of its funk. The Crusaders turned the ball over 40 times in their first loss of the year.ICS returns to action next Tuesday at Lucerne Valley. The Crusaders' home game scheduled for tonight against Antelope Valley Christian has been cancelled.